


Caleb's Injury

by LightningRod



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Caleb Widogast Needs a Hug, Caleb Widogast is a Mess, M/M, Minor Fjord/Caleb Widogast, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Some Plot
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-23
Updated: 2021-01-03
Packaged: 2021-03-10 16:53:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28250454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LightningRod/pseuds/LightningRod
Summary: A human wizard off alone in enemy territory, this is not goin to go well. But the people in Rosana are not the problem, its the enemy from the past he needs to worry about.
Relationships: Essek Thelyss/Caleb Widogast, Fjord/Caleb Widogast
Kudos: 23





	1. Running errands alone

**Author's Note:**

> Again- wrote this a while ago and thought it would be fun to share. Sorry for any weird grammar or spelling. Enjoy!!

Back in Rosana, the mighty Nien are back home in the Jorhouse. Everyone is doing chores or shopping. Caleb went out by himself to go pick up some more paper and ink. He and the others split and he told them he met them back home. The others return home after picking up some stuff and some more food. They return to see caduceus cooking and fjord trying to swat a fly from the air, but no sight of Caleb.  
Nott Asks “ has Caleb come home yet?’’  
Caduceus Replies “No, not yet.”  
Nott “Well we can just wait till he gets back, he probably had some other shopping to do.”  
Caduceus “ Yeah, Probably”

The Mighty Nien Patiently waited, 1 ½ hours. Nott Begins to look very worried.  
Fjord stands up and says “Okay Caleb has not come back so first, Jester sends him a message.”  
“oh ok,” Jester says as she starts to cast Message “Hi, Caleb where are you? We are getting worried. Are you coming back soon? Do Do Do Do Do Do Do Do Do Do Do.”  
There’s silence then Jester hears *cough* "I’m in the Alley (long Pause) *cough* People, blindfold, blood, help.”  
Jester stands up and says “ Caleb's in trouble we need to find him! He’s in an alley somewhere.”  
“Okay, everyone buddy system, let's all go to the paper shop and spread out from there.” commands fjord.  
They all run out of the house towards the paper shop.

2 hours earlier…

Caleb walks along the road covering his face to make sure he isn’t confronted. He makes it to the paper shop and buys 300 gold worth of paper and 50 gold worth of ink. Smiling he walks out of the store, not noticing the two Drow elves that have been following him. He almost forgets that he wanted to pick up something for the team, so he turns around and heads for the jewelry store. Unfortunately, before he gets there, the two Drow approach him. He acts normal because they don’t say anything and walk a little past him. Suddenly, he gets pushed into the alley. He tries to wrestle free but it's no use. One elf puts a gag in his mouth and the other starts to cast a spell. Caleb recognizes it as Leomund’s tiny hut. Caleb starts to get worried. The elves bring out a chair, they take Caleb’s backpack, books, jacket, necklace, and other trinkets. They put them in a pile to the side, seemingly uninterested in anything he has.  
The elves tie him to the chair. One elf takes out a dagger and says “You will answer all of our questions! If you do, I won’t need to hurt you, but if you don’t. Well, you can Infer.”  
As he twirls the dagger through his fingers. Caleb being through so much torture in the past doesn't flinch to this treat, only smiles.  
The Drow asks “ Do you work for the Empire?”  
Caleb answered “No!”  
“So why are you here Bren?”  
Caleb's heart begins to race. “What did you say?”  
“I said, What are you doing here Bren?”  
Caleb looked up and spit at their feet. The 1st elf who is a male,6’4”, green eyes and white hair, smiles and says “Okay so it's going to be that way.”He begins to slowly cut into his arm avoiding any major artery, so he would not bleed out. Caleb won’t answer.  
“Okay, let's try a different question. How are your relations with the bright queen?  
Caleb just looks away. He began cutting and stabbing and every time the other elf, 5’10”, blue eyes, white hair, would hold his mouth shut so he could not scream. At this point, Caleb knew they were Spies, disguised as Drow elves. The questions continued and soon he started to get beat. They Used any type of torture method they could think of, but they couldn’t break him. A time came where they said to each other  
“We need to blindfold him, we're going to change back.”  
“Okay, Okay”  
The female elf blindfolds Caleb and he saw a flash through the thin fabric. They say to each other “He’s not useful, maybe we could just have some fun!”  
“But how?”  
As they continue this conversation Caleb receives the message from Jester. Very wounded he coughed and spoke softly with a great deal of pain, he could only say a few words, so he wouldn’t alert his captors.

They began to play tic tac toe on Caleb's arm and after a few rounds, they got bored and pushed the chair over and started to beat on him. Still gagged but the blindfold has been taken off. He can’t take much more, they carve, they stab, they beat, and don’t forget about the mental torture.  
“Your nothing” “ A failure” “a Family Killer” “Orphan” “you will get all your friends Killed”  
The Two elves looked upon him and said “If only you stayed in the academy. We could have been doing this together and you wouldn't have to die.”  
The female looks at the male and says “ Because he betrayed his nation, make his death slow and painful.” The male nodded and took his knife and cut across the artery in his wrists, and dropped the knife in front of him. They walk away and say “Trent sends his regards,” and disappear.


	2. Lost and found

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They find him beaten and bloodied, Essek is called and tension is high between him and Fjord. Watch the M9 be soft for their wizard friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for checking this out! hope you enjoy!

The others make it to the paper shop. They split into two groups. Jester and Nott on the left and Beau, Fjord, and Caduceus on the right. Looking up and down allies, they go about six down until Nott sees something. She comes closer and it’s a chair on its side. She continues forward and sees Caleb. Nott sends a message to jester who is waiting at the entrance of the alley.  
Nott says “Jessy! He’s here, help, help, get the others!”  
Jester responds “okay, okay”  
Jester yells across the street “He’s here! Come on!”  
Then jester starts to run down the alley. Nott looks upon Caleb to see him drenched in his own blood, surrounded by a pool of it too, beaten to a pulp. She takes his head and cradles it in her arms, as jester arrives.  
Jester leans down and casts cure wounds at 5th level, it seems like they were just in time. Another minute and he would have been dead. Caleb doesn't wake up, so jester picks him up and carries him. Fjord and Caduceus found his backpack, books, and supplies. On the way home, Beau picks up some new clothes for him. When they reach their home they enter and take Caleb to his room. They change his clothes, wrap up his arms, back, and head with bandages, all were cut or bludgeoned in some way. Then put him in his bed to rest.  
As he is resting Fjord says “What the Fjuck! Happened! He’s a mess, what should we do?”  
Jester says “I don’t know Fjord, we should probably tell Essek.”  
Nott says “Yah, he should know. It seems like he would care.”  
“Okay, okay.” says Jester as she casts sending “ oh hey… Caleb was tortured. We just found him. He’s still unconscious. I just wanted you to know.”  
“Oh shit! I’m coming over, Be there soon.” Essek replies. A few silent minutes go by staring off into space taking rounds watching Caleb. Then suddenly the door opens “ding-a-ling-a-ling”  
Essek (he floats) is “standing” there and looks out of breath.  
“Where is he”  
They just point to Caleb's room. Essek enters and sees Caduceus sitting by the bed, watching Caleb.  
Caduceus gets up and says “I’ll give you a moment, come out when you're ready.”  
Pats him on the shoulder and leaves, closing the door.

Essek sits down and sits in silence for a minute or so, then says “ I told you to be careful, damn why did you go alone.” another pause “If they didn’t find you in time, right now I would be going to every priest to see if they could fix you.” a tear runs down his face “ Even if you don’t know, I care a lot about you, more than the others. I don’t exactly know what these feelings mean yet, but I hope you’ll be alright.”  
He sighs “ I will hunt them down, I promise” He reaches and grabs Caleb's hand and holds it for a second, and for that split second he thought Caleb moved but he didn’t. Essek stands and walks to Caleb’s bag and slips a book into the open pouch. He walks to the door and exits. As Essek enters the kitchen he hears food cooking and sees them setting the table.  
“What’s going on?” Essek asks  
“Well even if Caleb… we still need to eat,” says Caduceus  
“You're going to eat with us,” exclaimed Jester and pulled him toward the table.  
“Okay, I will stay. Why don’t you tell me about your adventures.” He takes a seat.  
“From the Beginning?”  
“Yes, we have all the time in the world.”  
So they eat as Jeter tells the story of how they meet and the wonderful adventures they had.  
In the middle of Jester’s story, Caduceus and Essek hear a rustle coming from Caleb’s room. Essek gets up and glides to the door and there stands limply Caleb. As soon as Caleb looked to see who opened the door, he smiled faintly. He drowsily steps forward and collapses into Essek’s arms. Essek picks him up and puts him back in bed. Caleb opens his eyes to see Essek and all his friends standing around his bed.  
“Hey, guys. You found me” Caleb says with trepidation.  
“Look here, you gave us a scare, what the Fjuck happened,” Jester says sternly.  
“Um, it's a little fuzz…” Caleb started.  
“Jester let’s take it slow.” Fjord interjected  
“Okay, Okay, So what did you do after shopping for paper?” Jester said calmly  
“um I wanted to pick up something for everyone, but I never got there.”  
“Then what?”  
Caleb closes his eyes and pictures, what happened next.  
“These two drow elves came up to the side of me and pushed me into an alley. Then started to ask me questions. Like who I was an ally too. I said the dynasty. They scoffed, then called me… Bren. they kept asking questions and I wouldn't answer so.” Caleb winces and immediately grabs the spot where they started to cut and start to shake. Fjord and Essek both went for Caleb’s hands. Fjord grabs Caleb’s left hand that is grabbing at the bandage on the other arm. Essek grabs his right hand. Fjord and Essek eye each other, then look to Caleb.  
Fjord says “ Caleb are you alright, we don’t need to talk about this now.” sill holding the shaking hand.  
“No, No it’s fine. I can just remember all the places they hurt me and the pain to go with it.” Caleb replies. Fjord looks Nervously at Caleb.  
“So once they finished trying to ask me questions, and because I gave them no information. They started torturing me… for fun.” Caleb looks at Fjord and squeezes his hand. “Then at this point, I knew they were from the Soltrace academy and most likely were trained by Trent. I-It was confirmed because when they left me they said… Tr...Trent sends his regards.”  
“Caleb I’m so sorry,” Fjord says as he gives Caleb a hug. The rest of the M9 and Essek join the hug. The hug breaks and Fjord says “Okay, now you need to rest, everyone come on let's go.”  
As everyone leaves Caleb silently falls asleep. Fjord is the last to leave, but before he exits he turns to see the sleeping Caleb. Fjord smirks and leaves the room.


	3. The night watches

They then sit around the dining room table in silence until beau says, “I will find them and kill them. Caleb isn’t safe with them here, If they find out he’s alive…” Beau looked down twiddling her thumbs.  
Fjord then says “Well we should probably leave Rosana for a while, but tonight we should keep watch. Essek are you going to stay?”  
Essek replies, “Yes, if that is alright.”  
“Of course, So groups of two, for watches.”  
Jester says “ It should be Me and Nott, You and Beau, and Essek and Caduceus.”  
Fjord says “Okay it’s decided.”  
Fjord, Beau, Essek and Caduceus go upstairs to rest. Essek is escorted to Yasha’s room. They all bed down and wait for their watch.

Watch 1- Jester and Nott (note all dialect in the watches is a whisper)

Jester and Nott sit in the dining room.  
Jester says “ I’m sorry Nott.”  
“For what?”  
“Caleb. I knew I should have gone with him.”  
“Jessy it’s not your fault. It probably would have happened either way. Then you would have been hurt too.”  
“I know, I just wish I could've done something.”  
“You are doing something, you're protecting him and you care for him as we all do. You even saved his life, without you he might have been gone, caduceus might have not gotten there in time.”  
“Well, what do we do now? Maybe we should go to Nicodranas or Wildemount. Somewhere away from here or we could track down these BITCHES and make them pay!”  
“We should do both. Maybe Essek can have a search party here, while we take Caleb away.”  
“Yeah”  
A couple of minutes go by,  
Notts says “I’m worried”  
“About what?” Jesters say in a concerned tone  
“I’m worried Caleb is going to go back in his shell like how he was when we first met. I’m worried he’s not going to forget the pain. You saw him back there, I was in pain just looking at him and when he was talking… did you see how he folded in on himself? He just shut down,”  
“I did, but Nott. Caleb has us and he has grown stronger. I believe he can overcome anything, including this.  
“Thanks”  
Nott and Jester’s watch ends with no interruptions. Jester woke up Beau and Fjord.

Watch 2- Beau and Fjord

Fjord and Beau crack open the door to Caleb’s room so they can keep an eye on him. A couple minutes pass before Fjord says “Hey, Beau can I ask you something.”  
“Sure”  
“How do you know when you um like somebody?”  
“Are you serious? *laugh* you came to me for that insight?”  
“Well, of course, you’re the only one I’ve seen in a relationship before.”  
“Okay, that’s fair. The first thing you need to think about is how they make you feel, like good, bubbly, excited, or even lust or some shit like that.”  
“Yeah, I do feel those things around them.”  
“Then step 2, are you attracted to them, do you see yourself with them?”  
“Yeah”  
“After step 2 is step 3 part 1. For part 1 you need to find out who they like, or what they're into.”  
“Okay”  
“Then step 3 part 2 is to spend more time with them, Lastly step 4 is to ask them out. Tell them how you feel, even if they reject you, you will feel so much better getting it off your chest.”  
“Got it!”  
This whole time Fjord has been taking notes.  
“Who is this anyway?”  
There is a brief pause then Fjord looks up from his notes.  
“Well ya see, okay hear me out, today I was reminded that we could all die at any moment and… well especially hi-him right now”  
Fjord turns his head towards Caleb’s door.  
“So wait, you like Caleb.”  
“Yeah, but I don’t know how to tell him”  
“Just tell him, I’ve kinda expected you to fall for someone, I just always assumed it would be jester, but this makes complete sense.”  
“Thanks…”  
“Let me do some digging and then I’ll tell you when is the best time to tell him.”  
“Okay”  
Their watch finishes, Beau gets up to wake the others. Fjord sits staring into space, thinking.

Watch 3- Essek and Caduceus

Essek and Caduceus sit in silence for a while before they hear whispers, almost screams for help but barely audible. They both get up and look in Caleb’s room. They see Caleb sweating, shaking, whispering, distressed but asleep.  
Caduceus says “ He’s having a nightmare.”  
He runs and fetches a rag and some water. He starts to pat Caleb's head with the rag. They sit watching Caleb for a little until Caduceus says “ What will you do?”  
Essek looks up and says “I plan to tell the Queen we have spies among us and they attacked our allies. Then start a Group to search for these scourgers, as you call them, and bring them in to pay. If things get messy I won’t let them get away alive.” He glances at Caleb’s face, covered by a mess of orange-red hair. “You are our guests, our allies. For something like this to happen, here or all places, they have another thing coming.”  
“Well that’s good to hear, It’s almost sunrise I should start breakfast.” Caduceus gets up and leaves the room.  
Essek stays there until he’s called for breakfast. Instinctively Caduceus sets one too many place settings. They all blankly stare at the missing seat and begin to eat.


	4. What to do... what to do

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry its short... woops...

Jester halfway through her meal says quietly “ sh-should we leave?”  
Everyone looks up with calm worried faces to look at Jester.  
Fjord says “maybe, but we have to see if Caleb is strong enough to take us.”  
Essek pipes up “I can take you wherever you need to go.”  
Fjord “Thank you Essek. Jess should we go to your mom in Nicodranas .”  
Jester “ yes, that’s a good place to teleport into too, it's better than the Empire. Hold on.” Jester waves her fingers in the air and casts message. “Hey, Mom! Do you have any rooms, we were thinking about staying for a bit to get away from the war. Love you mom”  
The Ruby replies “ Yes, we have 2 rooms and we can set up another bed in your old room. I can’t wait to see you. I love you.”  
Jester to the group “She has rooms and we can get them. When should we leave?”   
Caduceus “Probably smart to leave as soon as possible. So we should finish, pack and go.”  
Fjord “Is that alright with you Essek?”  
Essek “Yes, that’s perfectly fine. I’ll get guards to guard the house while you are gone. I’m going to go talk to the queen, I will be back within the hour.” picks up his plate, places in on the counter and says, “Thank you, Be safe” and glides out the door. “Ding-a-ling-a-ling”  
The Mighty Nein packs and gathers Caleb’s supplies. Essek Returns.  
Essek “Are you ready?”  
Jester “Yes”

Fjord enters Caleb’s room, puts on Caleb’s backpack and picks Caleb up. Caleb slightly awakens; he opens his eyes to meet Fjords, then snuggles closer to Fjord's chest.  
“We’re ready,” says Fjord.  
Jester describes the lavish Chateau in hope they could teleport straight there. They all hold hands and Essek teleports them to Nicodranas .   
Sam rolls a percentage dice and rolls a 67. (67 means you appear a random distance away from the destination.)

They came into bright daylight but not at the lavish chateau but on the ledge of a dock. Some almost fell into the water. They arrive in Nicodranas.  
Essek “I apologize I couldn’t take you closer.”   
Fjord “It’s fine better than in the middle of the ocean.”  
Essek “Well I should go, you all be safe.”

He turns to look at Caleb, smiles a faintly and disappears. The Mighty Nien walk to the Chateau. They walk with purpose but with an air of sorrow around them. They arrive at the Chateau. They enter and Jester’s mom is there to greet them. She notices that they are more sorrowful than usual, then sees Caleb in Fjord's arms. She runs to Jester for a hug then pulls away to say “Is he Okay? I can call my doctor to take a look at him. He needs rest, come, come”  
Jester replies “ Something bad happened to him and we got there just in time. I think having a doctor look at him would be good.”  
Marian leads them to two rooms each has two beds and she tells Jester her old room is set up with another Two beds. They Set Caleb in the first room and leave him to rest. Marian brings the others into her room to chat. She writes an urgent letter to her doctor and sends Blue to give it to her and bring her back as quickly as he could.


	5. Rest in Nicodranas

The doctor comes in 2 hours later. She enters frazzled and worried about Blue. She is an older half-elf showing little grey, she has curly hair, green eyes, glasses, her hair is piny red but looks like it has been dyed multiple times. She runs into Marians room and says   
“What’s wrong?”  
She stops as she sees Marian standing talking to Jester and the rest of the Mighty Nien.   
“Oh, Natasha you're here. We need your expertise. Come to this room.”  
Marian leads them to Caleb's room and says “He’s my daughter's friend and could you look at him”  
Natasha gives a nod and approaches the bed. She starts to unwrap the badges and says “What happened? These are fresh wounds.”  
Jester speaks up. “He was out shopping, alone and 2 people started to attack him and tortured him for information or something. Which he didn’t share with them and… and we almost… didn’t get there in time.”  
“Oh, well they look healed a bit. So he won’t bleed anymore. I take one of you is a cleric.”  
Jester and Caduceus both nod.

“Two wow that's good. He needs rest even though you healed him. He’s lost a lot of blood and it will take a few days for him to recover. He Will be very weak so make sure he doesn't move that much or go into another battle, I see he has many other scars. So make sure” She pauses and gives them a very stern stare “Make sure he doesn't do anything reckless, here.” She hands Jester a glass of liquid that has a pinky-red hue. “This will be for the pain. When he wakes up he will be in a lot of pain, most folks like them don’t take pain well. Even if he tells you he's not in pain, which he probably will be, he looks strong-willed, you have to get him to drink it. It will help with his recovery as well. He should drink 1/4 of that every day and I’ll come to check on his progress in 3 days. He’s going to be on bed rest until further notice. Now let's leave him alone.”  
They walk back to Marian's room, and all sit inside her chambers.   
Fjord says “ thank you, um I didn’t catch your name”  
“Natasha, No problem and I haven’t met any of you.”  
“I’m Fjord”  
“I’m Jester”  
“I remember you, you were such a cute baby. I even delivered you.”  
“Really!”  
“Yes, you were a stubborn one.”  
Jester, Natasha, and Marian laugh.  
“I'M NoTt  
“Interesting”  
“I’m Caduceus”  
“I’m Beau”  
“And who I just looked at was…”  
“Oh that's Caleb,” says Beau  
“Well, it's so nice to meet all of you.”  
After a bit of talk with Natasha and Marian, Natasha gets up and says “It’s time for me to leave. It has been wonderful to meet you all. I’ll be back in 3 days. Tell me if he gets worse, I’ll come as fast as I can.” She smiles and leaves the room. It’s about noon in Nicodranis the M9 decides to split up and get something done. They have to share rooms so Jester sleeps in her old room, Nott sleeps with Yeza, Beau and Cad and Fjord share the room with Caleb.

Nott trains Ben-  
Nott casts disguise self and turns into Veth. She finds her son and starts training him on how to shoot a crossbow. They make a target on the beach but very far from the water and Veth begins to teach Ben.  
“Okay, pull back and pull the trigger.”  
Ben exclaims “Ha!” as he releases.  
“Nice shot! 8 on the target is really good!”  
“Thanks, Mom.”  
Nott's heart stops for a second and says “ your Welcome son”  
The whole time Yeza was sitting to the side afraid of what was happening.

Caduceus and Beau’s Meditation-  
Caduceus and Beau both wanted to spend some time by the beach. They arrive late afternoon and move away from each other, setting up their own meditation. Beau moves to a rock surrounded by water. Cad draws in sand and lights candles for his meditation. Beau finds herself away from all senses that have no use right now, taste, smell, sight, touch, hearing only thought and it’s calming. Cad sits and lets the wind guide him. At times he gets a feeling of fear from the wind, a kind of warning, it then goes back to happy and calming winds. The wild mother passes her wisdom as the tide rises to touch his toes, he inhales and the tide flows back out and this calms his mind. His breath and the sea are in harmony.  
When both are done they meet and sit on the beach and watch the sunset, then leave to go to the chateau. They pick up some supplies on the way home.

Jester and her mom-  
Jester gets to spend some quality time with her mom. Jester tells her mom of all of these wonderful adventures and feats they performed. Her mom performs and Jester paints her portrait as she sings.


End file.
